Breaking News

May 29, 2008

Read the introduction to the Human Rights Watch's World Report 2008 titled "Despots Masquerading as Democrats" from Richard Roth the executive director in the link below;

Malaysia is one of the country that was honoured with a special mention in Richard Roth's introduction (which is highlighted in blue). the following are extract from his introduction;

DESPOTS MASQUERADING AS DEMOCRATS

Rarely has democracy been so acclaimed yet so breached, so promoted yet so disrespected, so important yet so disappointing. Today, democracy has become the sine qua non of legitimacy. Few governments want to be seen as undemocratic. Yet the credentials of the claimants have not kept pace with democracy’s growing popularity. These days, even overt dictators aspire to the status conferred by the democracy label. Determined not to let mere facts stand in the way, these rulers have mastered the art of democratic rhetoric that bears little relationship to their practice of governing.

The techniques used by such autocrats to tame the nettlesome unpredictability of democracy are nothing if not creative. The challenge they face is to appear to embrace democratic principles while avoiding any risk of succumbing to popular preferences. Electoral fraud, political violence, press censorship, repression of civil society, even military rule have all been used to curtail the prospect that the proclaimed process of democratization might actually lead to a popular say in government.

By contrast, international human rights law grants all citizens the right to “take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen representatives” and to “vote” in “genuine periodic elections” with “universal and equal suffrage” and “secret ballot” so as to “guarantee[] the free expression of the will of the electors.” It also grants a range of related rights that should be seen as essential to democracy in any robust and meaningful form, including rights protecting a diverse and vigorous civil society and a free and vibrant press, rights defending the interests of minorities, and rights ensuring that government officials are subject to the rule of law. The specificity and legally binding nature of human rights are their great strength. But when autocrats manage to deflect criticism for violating these rights by pretending to be democrats, when they can enjoy the benefits of admission to the club of democracies without paying the admission fee of respect for basic rights, the global defense of human rights is put in jeopardy. Why bother complying with so intrusive a set of rules as international human rights law when, with a bit of maneuvering, any tyrant can pass himself off as a “democrat”?

Authoritarian leaders’ evasive use of democracy often begins with word gamesand rhetorical sleights of hand suggesting that restrictions undermining democracy are really necessary to save it.

Fair elections depend on the independence of the people running them, so it should come as no surprise that one favorite way for rulers to manipulate elections is to stack electoral machinery with their supporters.The case of Malaysia illustrates why governments seek control of the electoral machinery. Its government-dominated Election Commission rejected opposition efforts to remove alleged phantom voters from the electoral rolls, eliminate the widespread use of absentee ballots by government workers, and permit access to state-controlled media by all political parties. Similarly, Cambodia has made an art of holding elections staged by a National Election Commission controlled by the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, which then simply ignores claims of violence, fraud, or intimidation by independent monitors or opposition parties.A meaningful election requires a free press—to highlight issues demanding governmental attention and to permit public scrutiny of candidates’ competing political visions. The media is also essential for conveying popular concerns between elections—necessary input because a single vote cast every few years is a crude and insufficient method to make popular concerns known. It is thus no surprise that governments trying to control the democratic process seek to silence the press.

In Malaysia, for example, which bans public gatherings of more than five people without a permit, the police used chemical-laced water and tear gas to break up an orderly and peaceful march of protesters demanding electoral reforms ahead of planned elections expected in early 2008.Shutting Down Civil SocietyIn addition to political parties, a vibrant democracy requires a variety of associations and organizations so that people can mobilize support for their policy preferences and make their voices heard. These civil society organizations thus are another common target of autocratic rulers.

A False Dichotomy: The Tyrant You Know or the Tyrant You FearThe weak international response to the manipulation of democracy is founded in part on fear that an autocrat might be replaced by someone or something worse. Beginning with the FIS parliamentary victory in Algeria in 1991, the rise of political Islam has made that fear especially acute. Savvy dictators have learned to use a me-or-them logic to justify continued rule, but the dichotomy is often a false one.

ConclusionIt is a sign of hope that even dictators have come to believe that the route to legitimacy runs by way of democratic credentials. Broadly shared and deeply felt values underwrite the principle that sovereignty lies with the people of a nation and that the authority to govern is ultimately theirs. But that progress is fragile, its meaning dependent in large part on the commitment of the world’s established democracies. If they accept any dictator who puts on the charade of anelection, if they allow their commitment to democracy to be watered down by their pursuit of resources, commercial opportunities, and short-sighted visions of security, they will devalue the currency of democracy. And if dictators can get away with calling themselves “democrats,” they will have acquired a powerful tool for deflecting pressure to uphold human rights. It is time to stop selling democracy on the cheap and to start substituting a broader and more meaningfulvision of the concept that incorporates all human rights.

May 23, 2008

Want to win votes in a Muslim country in Asia? Keep your Islamic agenda hidden. This is the lesson taught by recent elections in Malaysia and Pakistan, among other Islamic nations. In the Malaysian parliamentary election last month, the group known as PAS (Parti Islam se-Malaysia) increased the number of its seats from six to 23 while the governing National Front, led by Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi suffered its heaviest defeat since 1969. There were many reasons for this. However, the most important might have been Mr. Badawi’s decision to play the Islamic card while PAS leader Abdul Hadi Awang went in the opposite direction. Waving the pan-Islamist flag, Mr. Badawi promised to draw Malaysia closer to an ill-defined Muslim world.

By contrast, Mr. Awang opened his campaign by abandoning the principal plank of PAS’s ideology: the demand for an Islamic state. “We are not calling for an Islamic state,” he said. “All we want is clean government and social justice." Mr. Awang also dropped his party’s plan to force women to wear the hijab and agreed to allow some women, and some non-Muslims, to become candidates on his party’s slate.

To many Western commentators, the February general election in Pakistan had been a defeat for President Pervez Musharraf. The real losers, however, were the Islamists. Parties linked to the Taliban and al Qaeda saw their share of the votes slashed to about 3% from almost 11% in the previous general election. The largest coalition of the Islamist parties, the United Assembly for Action (MMA), lost control of the Northwest Frontier Province—the only one of Pakistan’s four provinces it governed. The winner in the province was the secularist National Awami Party (NAP).

So far, no Islamist party has won a majority of the popular vote in any of the Muslim countries where reasonably clean elections are held. Often, the Islamist share of the votes has declined. In Malaysia, the Islamists have never gone beyond 11% of the popular vote. In Indonesia, the various Islamist groups have never collected more than 17%. The Islamists’ share of the popular vote in Bangladesh declined from an all-time high of 11% in the 1980s to around 7% in the late 1990s. Even in once-Taliban dominated Afghanistan, Islamist groups, including former members of the Taliban, have managed to win only around 11% of the popular vote on the average.In the Middle East and Arab nations Islamists don’t fair much better.In Iran’s general election last month, candidates who toned down their Islamic rhetoric generally did better than those who clung to old slogans of religious fanaticism. Even then, only 46% of those eligible actually voted. In most cities, turnout was below 30%; in Tehran it was just 19%. Because only government-approved candidates were allowed, there wasn’t much of a choice. Nevertheless, wherever possible voters picked those least identified with Islamism.In last November’s general election in Jordan, the Islamic Action Front suffered a rout, with its share of the votes falling to 5% from almost 15% in elections four years ago. The group, linked with the Islamic Brotherhood, kept only six of its 17 seats in the National Assembly. Its independent allies won no seats.In Gaza and the West Bank, Hamas—the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood—won the 2006 general election with 44% of the votes, far short of the “crushing wave of support” it had promised.In Turkey, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) has won two successive general elections, the latest in July 2007, with 44% of the popular vote. Even then, AKP leaders go out of their way to insist that the party "has nothing to do with religion.”In last July’s general election, the AKP lost 23 seats.The AKP’s success in Turkey inspired Moroccan Islamists to create a similar outfit called Party of Justice and Development (PDJ). The PDJ sought support from AKP “experts” in last September’s general election in Morocco. Yet when the votes were counted, the PDJ collected 10% of the popular vote, winning 46 of the 325 seats.Islamists have done no better in Algeria. In the general election, held in May 2007, the two Islamist parties, Movement for a Peaceful Society and Algerian Awakening, won less than 12% of the popular vote.In Yemen, one of the Arab states where the culture of democracy has struck the deepest roots, elections in the past 20 years have shown support for Islamists to stand at around 25%. In the last general election in 2003, the Yemeni Congregation for Reform won 22%.Kuwait is another Arab country where the holding of reasonably fair elections has become part of the national culture. In the general election in 2006, a well-funded and sophisticated Islamist bloc collected 27% of the votes and won 17 of the 50 seats in the National Assembly. In the general election expected within the next weeks, Islamists are expected to do worse.In Lebanon’s last general election in 2005, the two Islamist parties, Hezbollah (Party of God) and Amal (Hope) collected 21% of the popular vote and 28 of the 128 seats in the parliament.Why do Islamists fail to do better in elections in Muslim countries? There are many answers. The one I prefer comes from Turkish President Abdullah Gùl: “Most Muslims like to live in an Islamic society with a secular state.”

May 10, 2008

"If the legal system is unjust and when laws are not fairly enforced, Government officials will be complacent and Evil doing will abound."

- old chinese proverb -

Looks like now they are gonna come get you fellas with all the dinosaur act or laws of terror or scare the shit out of you stupid Malaysians, well it work for a long time and it fail or almost lost the whole shit when they pretend to be nice and give sweet words of promises if not for some faraway backwaters states cut off from the technology of the day that only can vote for the same shit time after time or maybe or hopefully anwar ibrahim can change that and bring these people to their senses and join the Pakatan Rakyat, the party for all Malaysians!

Lets Recollect whats happenning here

So first they got NST to sue Rocky and Jeff and the case is still pending and with almost 1 million backlog cases pending in court, it will probably take 10 years anyway.

And than hastily come up with the thump up charges against our champion Raja Petra of Malaysia Today, they have charge him with the grand old Dinosaur Act called the Sedition Act. Read the champion's full story here: http://www.malaysia-today.net/2008/content/view/7156/84/ and they also charge Syed Akbar for making a comment in Malaysia Today.

Now they are making stupid noises about our old warhorse Karpal Singh and he too might be charged with sedition. Can someone go tell these Fools that this tactic won't work anymore.

And more than that, look at the police brutality in the handling of the Cheras Mahkota residents when all the people there wanted was some convenience in traveling to and from work and to save a few cents, especially in this present times of rising cost and food prices!And the police went to protect the Pirateers and they use violence on their fellow citizens.

Fools! The fear tactics no longer work! Continue with this unjust approach and i will guarantee you that come next election we will make sure that you are booted out!

We are the masters and you are but only servants! Stoopid Fools! Don't you guys get it? Nobody likes Bullies! Damn Fools!

May 7, 2008

And RPK goes to Jail..... and this case has now gain greater attention and attraction from all around planet Earth! Hah! this is going to be incited to be a world famous case!(of Controversy)

RPK is the the Champion of all Malaysian who will sacrifice body and soul for truth and justice.

WHO IS THE REAL MURDERER? THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD (www)WANTS TO KNOW!(Now)

And LETS SEND THE ALTANTUYA's MURDERER TO HELL! they all say.

Was having dinner with a few business friends and a couple of Datuks and the topic is RPK now in Jail and how great a champion he is, and all enquired about how to extend monetary assistance towards his cause and have requested for me to send them the account number so that they could deposit cash to his account.

Well upon further enquiry, i was told that the fund has been closed and no further contribution will be accepted and so informed my fellow diners and they were all dissapointed and further extended their future assistance when called upon.

One thing for sure when i told them that the sedition charge was a criminal charge and that they handcuffed our champion, their response was that of disbelief, anger bewildered and all sorts of as RPK will call it F**** when you are lost for words. they handcuffed a decent malaysians whilst criminals lurks our streets and murderers sleep in comfort! Damn sh** f@#$&%.

I belive that we can easily raise millions from our fellow malaysians on a justified cause for our champion.

Well Lets not us forget that a Heinous crime has been committed in our land and may we now take a moment of silence for Altantuya. Bless Her....

1 of 2PETALING JAYA: In a dramatic turn of events, controversial Malaysia Today news editor Raja Petra Kamaruddin was Tuesday (6 May) charged with sedition at the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court over his article which implicated Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife, Rosmah, in the murder of a young Mongolian woman.

“I knew it was coming,” RPK , as he is popularly known in blogsphere, told reporters, looking as if relieved that the death knell finally came.

Raja Petra claimed trial to the charge. He was charged under Section 4(1)(c) of the Sedition Act for publishing a allegedly seditious article on April 25 on his Malaysia Today portal.

Hearing has been fixed from 6 to 10 Oct and Raja Petra was granted a bail of RM5,000, but in his trademark defiance, he refused bail, deciding instead to remain in custody until the hearing date. His wife, lawyers and friends tried persuading him to post bail but to no avail.

If found guilty, Raja Petra could be jailed for a maximum of three years and/or face a fine of up to RM5,000.

The charge sheet highlighted nine paragraphs of the article which was titled "Let's send the Altantuya murderers to hell" as seditious.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Nordin Hassan is prosecuting while Raja Petra was represented by a team of six lawyers led by Karpal Singh.

Rumours have been making the rounds of his impending arrest ever since he penned an article "Let's send the Altantuya murderers to hell" which alluded to Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and his wife in the killing of a young Mongolian woman.

RPK was arrested following publication of the article on his immensely popular website but was let off after he refused to cooperate.

But since Monday (5 May), text messages have been furiously flying around that RPK was to be arrested Tuesday and charged with sedition.

Late Monday the popular webmaster was ordered to surrender at the Jalan Duta court complex at 9.30am this morning to face a sedition charge. He appeared there in his usual yellow T-shirt and while waiting to be charged at the Kuala Lumpur Magistrate's Court, he received a telephone call from the police at about 10.20am asking him to go to the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court instead.

Raja Petra said that he was a victim of political persecution.

"I knew this was coming. They are going to find ways and excuses to charge me but these are stupid excuses," he said.

"Once they charge me, we will show that there is no evidence against me," he added.

He said an Umno leader from Petaling Jaya (Utara) had said about three weeks ago that "they should find ways to arrest me".

Present at the court were DAP leaders Lim Kit Siang and Ronnie Liu as well as Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar and her mother, Wan Azizah, PKR president as well as PKR vice president MP Tian Chua.

Last Friday, Raja Petra was called in by the police to have his statement recorded over an Internet posting two weeks ago pertaining to the murder case of Altantuya Shaariibuu, a Mongolian national.

On 25 Apr, Raja Petra posted the article titled 'Let's send the Altantuya murderers to hell' on his blog, Malaysia Today. The posting implicated Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor in the high-profile case.

Najib subsequently issued a denial through his press secretary Tengku Sariffuddin Tengku Ahmad, whereas Rosmah has also denied the allegations against her. The Altantunya murder trial is currently ongoing at the Shah Alam. (By BOB TEOH/ MySinchew)

PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian government has charged a prominent blogger, Raja Petra Kamaruddin, with sedition for an article he wrote on April 25 on his website, Malaysia Today.

The article has linked Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, to the gruesome killing of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaaribu in October 2006.

The 58-year-old blogger has also accused Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi for withholding crucial evidence in a bid to protect his deputy.

Raja Petra , who is known by his initials 'RPK', has pleaded not guilty and has insisted that the charges were trumped up against him.

He said: "UMNO or Barisan lost the internet war and they said Malaysia Today is one of the leading culprits. This is merely an excuse to arrest me, detain me and to charge me."

Raja Petra has vowed to continue blogging even if he is put behind bars. His lawyer Karpal Singh said this is a test case with serious, far-reaching implications.

"It appears to be a warning to all bloggers. As I said, I only hope this is not the beginning of other bloggers being dragged to court. Let this be a test case as to how far the government can go to charge bloggers for an offence under the sedition act," said Karpal, who has urged the prosecution to withdraw the sedition charge, saying it is more appropriate for the affected parties to sue Raja Petra for defamation.

While a campaign is on to raise funds for his bail, Raja Petra – who will be tried this October – has been put behind bars.

If found guilty under the sedition act, he may be fined up to US$1,500 or be jailed for up to three years, or both.

Trial set for October 6, if convicted, he faces up to three years in jail

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- A prominent Malaysian blogger was charged Tuesday with sedition for allegedly implying the deputy prime minister was involved in the sensational killing of a young Mongolian woman.

Raja Petra Raja Kamaruddin, who has not denied that he linked Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak to the slaying, pleaded innocent to the charge, telling reporters that he should have the right to hold the powerful accountable for wrongdoing.

He was taken to prison after he refused to post bail. The court set the trial for October 6. If convicted, he faces up to three years in jail.

"I am not posting bail. See you guys in October," Raja Petra told supporters before police took him away. "I will be out for Christmas. Don't worry."

Dozens of opposition members and bloggers gathered to show support for Raja Petra outside the Kuala Lumpur court where he was charged.

"This is an attempt to clamp down on all sorts of freedom," said Nurul Izzah Anwar, an opposition member of Parliament and daughter of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

The sedition charge stems from an April 25 article that Raja Petra posted on his popular Web site Malaysia Today.

The article allegedly implies that Najib and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, were involved in the 2006 killing in Malaysia of Altantuya Shaariibuu, a 28-year-old Mongolian interpreter.

Abdul Razak Baginda, a close associate of Najib, is charged with abetting the murder. Two policemen have been accused of killing her and destroying her body with explosives in a jungle clearing. The trial of the three men began in June 2007 and is under way.

The prosecution contends that Abdul Razak had the woman killed because she pestered him for money after he ended their affair.

Prosecutors said Raja Petra "published a seditious article, which contains seditious sentences," including allegations that Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is covering up evidence implicating Najib in the killing.

Raja Petra said he was not worried by the sedition charge and suggested he had evidence against the leaders.

"I am happy. We bloggers have declared war on the government. We are not scared of the government. The government should be scared of us," he told reporters.

"Is it seditious to influence people against corrupt leaders? There is nothing seditious," he said. "Do you think I do not have evidence?"

Some of Malaysia's most popular blogs offer strongly anti-government commentaries and present themselves as a substitute for mainstream media, which are controlled by political parties or closely linked to them.

This story was printed from channelnewsasia.comTitle:Malaysia to keep controversial security lawBy:Date:06 May 2008 1723 hrs (SST)URL:http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/345893/1/.htmlKUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia will keep its controversial security laws to ensure domestic security, Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar said on Tuesday, despite renewed pressure from rights groups to shelve them. Syed Hamid defended the decision to keep the Internal Security Act as opposition parties called for the release of all detainees being held under the law - which allows for indefinite detention without trial. "The government at present has no intention of amending or repealing the Internal Security Act (ISA)," he said. "The ISA is still relevant and it is not a punitive law but a preventive law in order to ensure that we protect security, peace and law and order," he added. "We must prevent events from happening." Syed Hamid's remarks come as the government faces increasing calls by opposition and government coalition members to release five Indian rights activists who were detained last December under the ISA. The Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) leaders angered the government after mounting a mass rally in November alleging discrimination in Malaysia, which is dominated by Muslim Malays. Police used tear gas, water cannons and baton charges to break up the street protest, which drew 8,000 people and came just two weeks after another rare demonstration organised by electoral reform campaigners. Since then, one of the Hindraf leaders, M. Manoharan, has been elected to the state assembly, while another has been hospitalised after reportedly being denied medication for diabetes. Rights groups say 70 people, mainly alleged Islamic militants, are being held under the ISA. Parts of the ISA date back to the British colonial era, when it was used against communist insurgents. It provides for two-year detention periods that can be renewed indefinitely. - AFP/al